Answer: Each session will start with 10 to 20 minutes of classical Tai Chi warm-up, conditioning exercises, and basic posture drills. (One of several warmup regimens that will be covered is seen in the first 45 min. of my Tai Chi For Health DVDs available on my website, www.taichiimania.com.)
The bulk of each 2-hour session is spent reviewing and practicing the 60-posture Short Form step-by-step. The Form instruction will go at a slower pace if absolute beginners are attending than in the case where everyone is versed in the Short Form. If everyone attending knows the Short Form, after 3-5 sessions devoted to refining the Form and teaching martial art applications of some postures, I will start teaching the Long Form. If there are folks who are well versed in either or both the SF or/and LF, I'll teach GM Chen's Sword Form. I'll take a vote at the start once I know the experience level of the group and at various points during the workshop to let attendees tell me what they want to work on.
I've been teaching Tai Chi classes since 1983 in almost every type of environment and to almost every type of audience (I don't work in prisons), and I have a well-developed faculty of knowing how to shape a workshop agenda on the fly to suit the needs of all attendees.
In all my workshops (Tai Chi and Qigong), I give plenty of form corrections and feedback to students attending in person AND via Zoom: I will have a large monitor tuned into the Zoom meeting and that will be set to "Gallery" view, where I can watch every remote attendee during the training and be able to give real-time feedback. If you've taken GM William Chen's Zoom classes, then you know he's extremely good at giving feedback to all remote participants while he's leading the Form practice.
*While I'm further down the learning curve in teaching this way, I'm getting pretty good at it. I've given 8 Tai Chi and Qigong workshops since the Jan. 2020 and the start of the Covid lockdown where I've set up the monitor for remote participants.
Terry,
For us Zoomers, could you be specific on what is going to be covered at each session?
Thank you,
Gary
Hi Gary,
I just now saw your message and question.
Answer: Each session will start with 10 to 20 minutes of classical Tai Chi warm-up, conditioning exercises, and basic posture drills. (One of several warmup regimens that will be covered is seen in the first 45 min. of my Tai Chi For Health DVDs available on my website, www.taichiimania.com.)
The bulk of each 2-hour session is spent reviewing and practicing the 60-posture Short Form step-by-step. The Form instruction will go at a slower pace if absolute beginners are attending than in the case where everyone is versed in the Short Form. If everyone attending knows the Short Form, after 3-5 sessions devoted to refining the Form and teaching martial art applications of some postures, I will start teaching the Long Form. If there are folks who are well versed in either or both the SF or/and LF, I'll teach GM Chen's Sword Form. I'll take a vote at the start once I know the experience level of the group and at various points during the workshop to let attendees tell me what they want to work on.
I've been teaching Tai Chi classes since 1983 in almost every type of environment and to almost every type of audience (I don't work in prisons), and I have a well-developed faculty of knowing how to shape a workshop agenda on the fly to suit the needs of all attendees.
In all my workshops (Tai Chi and Qigong), I give plenty of form corrections and feedback to students attending in person AND via Zoom: I will have a large monitor tuned into the Zoom meeting and that will be set to "Gallery" view, where I can watch every remote attendee during the training and be able to give real-time feedback. If you've taken GM William Chen's Zoom classes, then you know he's extremely good at giving feedback to all remote participants while he's leading the Form practice.
*While I'm further down the learning curve in teaching this way, I'm getting pretty good at it. I've given 8 Tai Chi and Qigong workshops since the Jan. 2020 and the start of the Covid lockdown where I've set up the monitor for remote participants.
Hope this answers your question.
Terry Dunn